ipl-logo

Causes Of The Great Depression Dbq

1004 Words5 Pages

From 1929 to 1939, the world experienced a global economic crisis known as the Great Depression. It was the twentieth century's lengthiest, most intense, and most widespread depression, and its effects were felt across the world. While there is controversy over what started it, the stock market crash, the banking crisis, and overproduction all contributed to the Great Depression.
The stock market was growing in the 1920s, and many people regarded it as a rapid way to get rich. Investors poured money into equities, convinced that the market would climb endlessly, “...most of America waited for supply to create its own demand, waited for the business cycle to run its natural course, waited for the stock market to get back on its upward course” …show more content…

The United States saw an extraordinary industrial boom in the years leading up to the Great Depression, with new technology and manufacturing processes allowing things to be produced at a quicker and cheaper pace than ever before. This resulted in a surge in consumer spending as consumers bought automobiles, refrigerators, and other items they could never afford previously, “...when people have bought all they can afford they go on buying…” (Doc 10). Unfortunately, the tremendous speed of production eventually outpaced customers' capacity to purchase all of the things being created. This resulted in an excess of items on the market, which resulted in lower pricing and lower earnings for enterprises. Businesses were compelled to lay off workers as they struggled to sell their assets, thus reducing consumer demand and creating a downward circle of economic collapse. Overproduction was particularly felt in the agricultural sector when farmers produced record amounts of products yet had no one to sell them to. Prices for agricultural items decreased precipitously, leaving many farmers unable to turn a profit. Many cartoons were created and released to the public displaying this struggle against the drop in crop prices, its ties to overproduction, and how negatively it affected the farming community (Doc 11). Farmers were unable to repay the debts they had taken out to support their businesses, resulting in widespread foreclosures and bankruptcies. The fact that many Americans were already deeply in debt exacerbated the overproduction of

Show More
Related

Robber Barons In The Gilded Age

203 Words | 1 Pages

The charge about the old days of the American economy—the nineteenth century, the “Gilded Age,” the era of the “robber barons”—was that it was always beset by a cycle of boom and bust. Whatever nice runs of expansion and opportunity that did come, they always seemed to be coupled with a pretty cataclysmic depression right around the corner. Boom and bust, boom and bust—this was the necessary pattern of the American economy in its primitive state. In the US, in the modern era, all this was smoothed out.

Read More

What Caused The Great Depression Dbq Essay

468 Words | 2 Pages

In the 1930s more than 15 million American had no jobs. That is more than 20 percent of the U.S population at that time. The United States was in a bad situation called The Great Depression. There was a lot of poverty since the stock market crashed in 1929. Americans lost their money/savings.

Read More

Why Was The American Economy Dbq

710 Words | 3 Pages

This quote exemplifies how America’s debt was no longer an embarrassment and people bought without concern for consequences. With a mindset such as this, it was inevitable that the day would come when the economy would face these repercussions of speculation. On October 29,

Read More

Great Depression Dbq Essay

491 Words | 2 Pages

The context of the Great Depression is the roaring 20’s. As World War 1 ended a new era of prosperity came to America. At the height of prosperity the Stock Market exchange began to rapidly expand as more people began to trade. The Great Depression was caused by the Stock Market Crash,Business Failure unemployment and Bad banking practices.

Read More

What Caused The Great Depression Dbq Essay

383 Words | 2 Pages

The Great Depression was an economic crisis that took place all over the world during 1929-1939. America and other nations were not prepared nor expecting this. Before it hit, stocks were high, businesses were thriving, and jobs were full. This event made the Roaring Twenties turn into one of darkest times in American history. The Great Depression was mostly caused by speculation/installment buying, banking, and unemployment.

Read More

Great Depression Dbq

509 Words | 3 Pages

In the industry, household appliances, cars, and consumer products were purchased by using credit. Production continued rapidly, while very little were able to afford the products produced. Farmers also suffered as they were producing more than what people were consuming. With growing cities and railroad access, farmers were taking advantage of costly but effective strategies. Unfortunately the famers had to pay out more to the distributors and railroads then what they were able to keep.

Read More

New Deal Dbq

1136 Words | 5 Pages

That was 25% of the current United States population. Because there were so few jobs, workers could no longer bargain for their working conditions. The average American could no longer pay for items bought through installment plans, so items were repossessed. Too much repossession led to surplus inventory. Without people to buy products industries collapsed.

Read More

1929 Dbq

994 Words | 4 Pages

It was too expensive to pay workers and buy materials for their items all at once, considering they were not getting enough buyers that were willing to pay. A sketch from St. Paul Daily News shows a man being booted out of a barn with eggs. The eggs represent prices for certain commodities and they are being cracked on the ground (Doc 11). This image shows how fast prices and employees were being dropped because of the lack of customers. As a matter of fact, overproduction made it necessary to drop prices but the low prices led to the farmers being unable to repay loans.

Read More

Great Depression Dbq

1177 Words | 5 Pages

Now the rich people couldn’t even buy the luxury things they used to before like a 35,000 boat (Doc. 8) because they now had to precisely manage their businesses so they wouldn’t fall into this bottomless pit. Not many faced this problem though because the rich were scarce in this time period. Only two percent of the US’s population of families was making over ten thousand dollars a year (Doc. 9). All-in-all overproduction was a really big cause of the Great Depression but it didn’t have a biggest negative

Read More

Causes Of The Great Depression Dbq

880 Words | 4 Pages

During the 20s, which became known at the Roaring 20s, American society was at an all time high and people were prospering as the nation’s wealth almost doubled and American was sent into the modern, consumer age. However following almost directly after the Roaring 20s, America entered a period of economic failure, also known as the Great Depression. During this period, the U.S faced economic, social, and political turmoil. The government and various individuals quickly sought after solutions to address the problems facing America during this time. Herbert Hoover, who was President at the start of the Depression, and his many reforms intended to revitalize the economy and create more jobs but would fail and his belief in rugged individualism

Read More

What Are The Underlying Causes Of The Great Depression

585 Words | 3 Pages

So when the market high, everyone pulls out to make money and pay off loans, it sends the market

Read More

Henry Paulson Great Depression Summary

438 Words | 2 Pages

The biggest enemy to the end of the financial crisis and the beginning of an economic recovery is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson himself. Lets forget for a minute that the decision by Paulson and Bernanke to let Lehman Brothers fail was the precipitating event leading to credit markets freezing up and the first round of financial panic. Since then, the two have been working diligently to correct this collosal mistake. But separating actions from words, we see that words are in fact much more potent. Since the end of September, every time Henry Paulson has opened his month, the Dow has dropped on average 196 points.

Read More

What Caused The Great Depression Dbq Essay

726 Words | 3 Pages

In 1929, the U.S. was hit with the worst economic crisis in the history of the country, the Great Depression. The Great Depression left millions of people unemployed and cost millions their life's savings. The Depression lasted for ten long years for the American people. Since the Great Depression ended, people have studied it, trying to figure out what happened that started it all. The problem was, in fact, the poor economic habits of the people at the time, such as speculation, income maldistribution, and overproduction.

Read More

Great Depression Consumerism

722 Words | 3 Pages

Known historically and internationally as the greatest economic struggle in American history, the Great Depression rendered the United States into fiscal terror. Almost seeming as a curse laid upon America, multiple major and minor events began to build upon one another and only make matters worse. This national downfall was mainly due to the crash of the stock market in 1929, the maldistribution of American wealth, the recent growth of consumerism, and the reduction of American exports around the world, with the most important cause being the international debt structure created by the aftermath of World War I. Speculated to be the beginning of an era of sadness, the stock market crash in 1929 put quite a dent in America’s economy. Known as

Read More

Causes Of The Great Depression Essay

750 Words | 3 Pages

Nishat kazi (Muniya) 11th grade The Great Depression was one of the worst downturn of economy in the history that took place during the 1930s. It had a catastrophic effect in countries on both rich and poor. Though there are a lot of causes behind the Great Depression,the main three causes were-1.Bank failure 2.Stock market crash 3.laissez faire.

Read More

More about Causes Of The Great Depression Dbq

Related Topics

Open Document